24 Easy Tips For Healthier At-Home Cooking

Statistically, fewer Americans are eating out anymore. The average food fan is still feeling an inflation-induced pinch on their wallet, resulting in less drive-thru and more home cooking.

This scenario needn’t be a negative — cooking from home opens up a world of culinary possibilities. Moreover, one can control far better what goes into their system, save money, and live longer.

Here are steps a home chef can take to improve their health using simple tweaks to their cooking and preparation practices. The expression “You are what you eat” has never been more understated.

Learn and Appreciate

Starting in the right place is important for any journey, so why not educate oneself about where food comes from? Having a good understanding of dairy farming, meat production, and processed food dangers is a great knowledge tool.

Where Food Comes From is a platform designed to help consumers understand why verification labels matter. Making the right choices about your ingredients’ origin is half the battle in improving one’s health.

Book an Oil Change

Deep frying and sautéing in vegetable, canola, or olive oil needs to disappear from any cooking repertoire — or scaled back, at least. Conversely, cold oils have health benefits, especially avocado, olive, and safflower oil.

Health Sciences Academy says choosing the right oil when heated is more important, as this is how most oils end up being used. Some oils have higher cholesterol when heated than others.

Limit Sugar and Salt

Many consumers are aware of the link between diabetes and excessive sugar consumption. Medical News Today shares a fact not many understand — salt can “accelerate autoimmunity.”

Increased sodium intake was found to create a 73% increase in latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) and a 43% higher risk of type 2 diabetes.

Keep It Wholesome

As a rule for any kitchen hawk, keeping only nutritious ingredients to hand will help make life better. Forcing oneself to eat pricey superfoods may be a step too far — especially for the wallet.

Harvard School of Public Health’s The Nutrition Source says choosing the right type of whole-meal pasta, oats, and bread helps our body process insulin.

Cook From Scratch

Processed food can be defined as preprepared food not cooked or made from raw ingredients at home. Many of us love the occasional TV dinner or frozen tamale, but it may be best left alone.

A British Medical Journal study shows the link between processed foods and colorectal cancer. Following a cohort of 46,341 men and 159,907 women, the 2022 study deduced harrowing results. Men with high processed food consumption had a 29% cancer risk increase.

Meal Prepping for the Win

Those who work hard on their physical appearance at the gym swear by meal prepping ahead of time. Notwithstanding the timesaving benefits, understanding what goes into each portion one consumes helps build discipline.

It’s important to give your body its necessary regular boost of protein, grains, and fats. “Plan your meals so you eat from all five food groups every day,” says the USDA’s My Plate resource.

You Can Do Better

I consider myself an accomplished cook. As a mark for how I order in restaurants, I ask myself the question, “Could I do it better?” As much respect as I have for chefs, they must create perfection for dozens of people per night.

Therefore, cooking at home gives us the flavor advantage — not to mention the savings on prime ingredients. LifeConnect24 argues that home cooks have more influence over how fresh the ingredients are.

Stay Watered

While hunger pangs are hard to ignore, this sensation can often be mistaken for thirst, so keeping water on hand is important. Moreover, what we choose to drink with our home-cooked meal is also pertinent.

Substituting sugar-laden soda or sports drinks for water with any meal is healthier and, over a week, may save thousands of calories. MayoClinic says that an average of 15.5 daily cups of water for men and 11.5 cups for women is about right.

Grow Herbs and Vegetables

There is little excuse for only buying vegetables or herbs if you have outdoor space and plenty of sunshine. Of course, time is our enemy, but surely, we can forsake a little doom scrolling for some mulch spreading?

Herbs such as thyme are considered superfoods. Even those in apartments have options: a simple herb garden on the window ledge or balcony might be all one needs for a daily nutrient kick.

Keep It in Proportion

Visitors to the United States come away shocked by how much food makes it onto the plate in restaurants. Joe Avella of Business Insider conducted a review of American vs. British portions, and the results were staggering.

This dichotomy can also relate to home cooks’ portion sizes. Cooking at home and setting stricter portions is one way to eat oneself healthier.

Adapt Your Cooking Methodology

When I lived in China, I was overwhelmed by how many different cooking techniques were on display. Of course, it wasn’t all healthy, but the level of blanching, steaming, and grilling on display was impressive.

If you like eggs in the morning, go for poached or boiled eggs instead of buttery scrambled eggs. Meanwhile, substitute an air fryer for your deep fryer; according to WebMD this is a 70% to 80% reduction in calories.

Pay It Forward

Building a healthy eating regimen is difficult when you live alone; family or housemates make it easier. Furthermore, inviting children into the kitchen may light a spark for a lifetime of good food choices. Family nutrition specialist Charlotte Stirling Reed argues there are many advantages for both child and parent.

Access to better quality ingredients is one benefit, but children have several others, including improved motor skills and better parental connection. Cooking with others is always a win-win.

Eliminate Refined Sugar

Sugar is addictive to many people — the instant energy kick our brain experiences makes it equal to hard drugs. This scenario means going without can be an exercise in mental fortitude. Those who can get rid of sugar from their diet are also reducing the level of triglycerides — blood fats that can lead to stroke and heart diseases.

Simple measures for omitting sugar include not having it in tea or coffee, using fresh fruit instead of canned, and substituting it with naturally sweet alternatives. ClevelandClinic says skipping meals is a surefire way to increase sugar cravings.

Broaden One’s Horizon

We can sometimes go through the motions with our cooking. A long, stressful working day deadens enthusiasm for some; therefore, adding variety makes perfect sense. Moreover, a widened ingredient knowledge can open doors to new health benefits.

Experimenting with South American ceviche, Korean kimchi, or African jollof can widen not only one’s culinary skills but also expose us to nutrient-dense ingredients. Epicurious has plenty of healthy recipes to choose from.

Include Leafy Greens

The lifelong campaign we fight to stave off disease is fraught with distractions. Health influencers, online doctors, and commission-seeking celebrities vie for our attention and the latest cancer-busting ingredient.

All we need to do is follow the data, which shows how increasing one’s consumption of dark and red leafy greens is a no-brainer. Leafy greens have alkalizing properties, which are key to combating acidic cancer cells.

Start Batch Cooking

While meal prepping is the end game, batch cooking is the pathway there. Some people enjoy doing their entire week’s cooking on a Sunday afternoon before the long week ahead.

One online commentator, TheBatchLady, says that batch cooking changed her life due to the time gained, the waste reduced, and the subsequent cash saved. The other benefit here is a lower inclination to cook something fast, unhealthy, and expensive — or order takeout.

Embrace Fresh Spices

Indian cooking thrives on fresh spices, such as turmeric, cardamom, and mace. The impact of these pungent aromatics transforms bland food into tastebud-smashing bold flavors.

Of course, Indian cuisine isn’t for all of us, but using raw spices needs to be. Freshly ground turmeric in a juice is simple. The spice contains anti-inflammatory and many other life-prolonging properties, according to the National Institute of Health.

Eliminate Snacking

Most of us know — though are unwilling to admit — that excessive snacking is poor for one’s waistline. Nothing is wrong with the odd treat per se, but regular snackers should try to integrate better items into their habits.

There is one effective method for reducing snacking — don’t buy them. Having a “sin draw” in the kitchen means willpower must fight alone against the need for a dopamine rush.

Go to the Source

Home chefs armed with ingredient wisdom can do much worse than investigating their local farmers’ markets or farm cooperatives.

The consensus among most nutritional scientists is that fresher ingredients contain more nutrition. By signing up for a weekly delivery of locally farmed vegetables or fruits, we ensure food is more seasonal, lower in emissions, and mineral dense.

Also, by the time it arrives, “fresh” produce in supermarkets may be months old. For example, freshly picked apples may stay in storage for nine months.

Slow Cooking for Fast Health Gains

Americans love slow cooking, which bodes well for both checkbook and lifespan.

Investing in a slow cooker may be a wise choice for anybody living in limited space or chefs who just can’t afford an oven. Sidenote: air-fryers cook using convection, too — this MadAboutFood post shares a 30-minute St. Louis ribs recipe.

Just be aware of what you’re putting in your slow cooker. Large cuts of low-fat meat are usually cheaper than their fatty, marbled superiors. It needn’t mean we sacrifice flavor: these large hunks of lean protein just need more love and time in the oven.

Don’t Ignore Your Pulse Impulses

“Beans, beans: good for the heart,” or so the saying goes. There is much truth in this old rhyme. For a while now, evidence shows that a pulse-rich diet can lower blood cholesterol, as exemplified in a recent American Heart Foundation report.

Perhaps the expression should be, “Beans, beans: great for the heart.” Some groups even argue that eating pulses requires less land than cattle while producing the same level of protein.

Ferment and Preserve

There are dozens of ingredients we can store, preserve, and pickle, depending on one’s region and the ingredients to hand. While this process isn’t for everyone’s taste, the health implications are many.

One such story comes in a Korean medical journal called Nutrients. A study published in 2024 reveals how traditional Korean fermented bean paste, doenjang, may alleviate menopausal symptoms.

Mix It Up

For some of us, saying goodbye to people is hard; for others, wishing farewell to lifelong junk food friends is just as difficult. While some more disciplined humans are able to abstain without issue, we weaklings fold immediately. 

There are two solutions: firstly, have that chimichanga and chips, but follow it up with healthy fruit. Better still, blend some fresh salsa to counterbalance the fats and carbs. PreciseNutrition says, “100 percent abstinence isn’t necessary (and usually backfires.”

Learn to Cook

 It may sound simple but learning to cook well takes many years of failure and error — though there is reward along the way. Sidenote: by “cooking,” we don’t mean heating french fries in a broiler. 

There are levels to making good food, and nobody is exempt from climbing them. Anyone looking to learn or improve has a wealth of free YouTube tutorials. Even the world-famous Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) offers free cooking classes.